Drouant, the Café de Flore, the Deux magots, the Coupole, the Café Wepler, the Closerie des lilas… These cafés, brasseries and other gourmet restaurants have in common that they host the presentation of a literary prize. They are also legendary addresses, known throughout the world for the authors who frequented them. Today, the writers are still there, but the café where we once sat to read a book or the newspaper, occasionally in front of a pastry, has often been transformed into a restaurant where we can have lunch or dinner, more or less good.
“It’s rather better than before,” bluntly says Gilles Pudlowski, gastronomic critic at the head of a blog, The feet in the plate and several guides to good addresses. For him, the relationships between literature and gastronomy “are not new”, the writer has always liked to come out of his lair to eat well, once in a while, in a moment of conviviality.
Gilles Pudlowski himself chairs the First novel prize since its creation in 1977, presented last week at the Coupole. “This is an address that has changed, for the better. I indicated on Instagram that our jury is one of the best fed in Paris! » The reason: the desire of the new owners to revive the luster of yesteryear. “When you have such a well-known address, with a great sea bass fillet with creamy risotto (29.50 euros) or their Indian lamb curry that they have been serving since 1927 (27.50 euros), it’s not is not very complicated. »
The literary café wants us to stay for dinner
How does literature thrive on restoration and how does the latter maintain its reputation thanks to the former? The prizes awarded at the end of the year make these often legendary addresses unmissable tourist destinations. Depending on the times, the clientele changes, the menus evolve, the tables adapt. “The catering part has been strengthened at Deux-Magots,” explains Catherine Mathivat, who has run this family business since 1993. We had to prevent customers from coming for an aperitif and going elsewhere for dinner. » “I ate there not long ago, it’s very good,” agrees Gilles Pudlowski. However, “it is not a brasserie, underlines Catherine Mathivat, but rather a literary café-restaurant”, where the book remains a popular product. In addition to a prize created in 1933 in reaction to the “conservatism” of Goncourt, the Deux Magots regularly welcome writers around their work. The place is open from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., from breakfast to dinner, including midday aperitif, lunch, snack, evening aperitif and dinner. “It’s been a long day,” admits Catherine Mathivat, “but we have adapted the cuisine and service accordingly. »
At the neighboring Café de Flore, more celebrity with its prize chaired since 1994 by Frédéric Beigbeider, there is less effort in the kitchen. It must be said that it is smaller.
“Le Flore, I go there for scrambled eggs, a croque-monsieur (13 euros) or for a coffee and that’s it,” says Gilles Pudlowski. Eggs, salads, sandwiches, a quick snack, that’s what you find at the Café de Flore, served on pedestal tables, where Deux-Magots allows you to really sit down to enjoy mimosa leeks (14 euros) or giant Burgundy snails (20 euros), tartare on herb crumble (29 euros) or beef fillet with morels (50 euros). Catherine Mathivat brushes aside any idea of competition or rivalry between the two houses. “We are part of the same setting, when one is closed, for work for example, the other is bored.” At the next table, Hervé, a regular, agrees: “The first time they visit Paris, foreigners come either to Flore or to Deux-Magots. And the other address, next time. »
A Goncourt menu for the end of the year
Tourists are the big deal, because they are the ones who keep these cafes and restaurants alive, even if there has been “a rebalancing since the end of the Covid pandemic”, underlines Catherine Mathivat. Today we are more like 50%-50% between tourists and regulars.” James Ney, who runs the Drouant restaurant, is categorical: at lunch, the clientele is now “100% Parisian”. Here more than anywhere else, we want to preserve the links between literature and gastronomy. Here more than anywhere else, the highly publicized Goncourt Prize award ceremony leaves a lasting impression. But the address also welcomes members of the academy throughout the year. “Every first Tuesday of the month since 1914,” explains James Ney, who recounts how Drouant began to attract everyone in Paris by offering oysters from Brittany. “Among our clients, there were writers, notably Colette, who was a gastronomic critic…” In 1926, the Renaudot prize, created while awaiting the results of the Goncourt, took up residence in the same place, proof that people eat there GOOD. “We have always adapted our menu by being attentive to current tastes,” continues James Ney who admits to being “sensitive to food intolerances, seasonal recipes, vegan dishes” (fried mushrooms or ravioli at that time) , even if the classic Drouant oysters, vol-au-vent from the Goncourt brothers or Madeleine de Proust are still there…
“As soon as the prize is awarded, we invite our customers to discover the Goncourt menu that we spent several weeks creating with our chef Romain Van Thienen,” proudly displays the boss of Drouant. “It’s a very successful gala meal,” agrees Gilles Pudlowski, who had the chance to taste this succession of six exceptional dishes. Excellence obliges, Drouant limits the number to thirty per service, at 190 euros, by reservation. Three of the six plates, the Colette lobster, the Cocteau turbot and the Huysmans venison are also offered individually for around fifty euros.